Saudi Arabia is aiming to host the world’s richest cricket competition

As part of a special series Age and Sydney Morning Herald have spoken to players, their agents, administrators and others involved in cricket about the growing dominance of the IPL, which is shaping up to be the most profound change in the sport since the Kerry Packers World Series Cricket revolution of the late 1970s.

Saudi Arabia has set its strategic goal to be India’s number one tourist destination by 2030. Saudi Arabia is an associate member of the International Cricket Council and promotes local men’s and women’s cricket programs. Its cricket infrastructure lacks the stadiums currently available in the UAE, but major Sports Venues are a key part of its construction programme.

Our aim is to create a sustainable industry for locals and expats living in Britain and to make Saudi Arabia a global cricket destination, Saudi Arabia Cricket Federation Chairman Prince Saud bin Mishal Al-Saud told Arabic news last month.

Saudi Arabia’s other sporting expansions have included the Saudi Formula 1 Grand Prix, the purchase of Newcastle United in the English Premier League in 2021, the acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo for the Al Nassr club and the play money of the supervised LIV Golf course. Greg Norman, all of whom have been accused of laundering sports to cover up the human rights record in Saudi Arabia.

LIV has also divided the golf world as players defected over multi-million dollar payouts on a course that rivals established professional tours. However, LIV players have been able to continue competing in major championships, such as last week’s Masters in Augusta.

Early discussions in the cricket space included a similar scenario of a Saudi-backed cricket structure, but now there is a decision to build something with the consent of cricket’s official power brokers.

Following Aramco’s sponsorship deals with the ICC and the Indian cricket board, the BCCI, the Saudi Tourism Commission announced a major partnership with the IPL in February.

Saudi government and business representatives have been a prominent presence in Indian cricket in recent weeks and months, with growing expectations that the IPL’s owners and the BCCI itself will be wooed with the aim of putting together a Twenty20 league that only the IPL could rival on a financial scale. .

Meanwhile, leading figures in Indian cricket have been approached for their views on how best to bring big cricket to Saudi Arabia. Other possibilities would be to organize the annual Asia Cup or the opening match or the IPL tour itself.

Still, the prospect of a big-money Twenty20 event backed by the IPL’s owners and the BCCI would be a huge change to an already packed cricket schedule, where big Indian clubs wield growing influence by buying stakes in multiple leagues.

The launch of the ILT20 in the UAE last year, with the signing of a large number of foreign players, has sparked heated debate among member nations due to the UAE’s lack of a strong domestic system and its own playing group.

“One of the things we are working on at an international level is to ensure that any new T20 leagues established and sanctioned by the ICC are committed to growing the game in their respective regions,” Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said. That is why there are regulations why boards have to issue NOCs [No Objection Certificates] so that players can play in other T20 series.

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Be it the sponsorship with Aramco or the more recent deal between the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) and the IPL, neither the BCCI nor the ICC have hesitated to strike commercial deals with Saudi Arabia.

When this deal was reached, Alhasan Aldabbagh, the authority’s director of Asia-Pacific markets, said the further expansion of cricket was part of plans to increase Saudi Arabia’s visibility and tourism market.

IPL is the right platform to connect us to billions [cricket] fans around the world. This is a unique, first-of-its-kind partnership with the IPL. I think this is the first time that an international target has committed to this league, the IPL,” Aldabbagh said.

We host several sporting events including Formula 1, Formula E, WWE and the Spanish Super Cup. Next month we will host the Santosh Trophy. More events are coming. Cricket is also becoming popular in Saudi Arabia.

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In the same announcement, BCCI secretary Jay Shah made it clear that he wanted to see Saudi Arabia’s growing footprint in cricket. This partnership will create new opportunities for cricket in Saudi Arabia and strengthen the sport in the region, Shah said.

Pakistan cricket has also sought to strengthen ties with Saudi Arabia. Also in February, former captain Wasim Akram visited Riyadh and expressed his eagerness to be involved in launching the league there.

What a trip to Riyadh, Akram wrote in a Facebook post. It was a great meeting [Prince Saud bin Mishal Al-Saud]talked about cricket in saudi arabia and looking forward to saudi league insha allah soon.

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